Paleozoic sedimentary record of the Xing-Meng Orogenic Belt, Inner Mongolia: Implications for the provenances and tectonic evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

Abstract

The Xing-Meng Orogenic Belt is the eastern extension of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, which marks the boundary between the North China and Siberian blocks. Key information on the collision between these two blocks and the evolution of this orogenic belt at the end of the Paleozoic are preserved in the widely distributed Paleozoic sedimentary sequences. Petrographic studies of the clastic sedimentary rocks from the Ordovician to the Permian in this region have shown that the rocks are mainly greywackes and arkosic sandstones characterized by low maturity, poor sorting and a large number of lithic fragments. Provenances of Paleozoic sandstones are mainly newly accreted crustal materials. Nd model ages range from the Neoproterozoic to the Late Mesoproterozoic. These ages are very different from those of the North China Block, but the change of ɛNd(t) (from the initial ɛNd value) is similar to that of igneous rocks in the Xing-Meng Orogen. This result indicates that provenances of these Paleozoic sedimentary rocks mainly arise from the Xing-Meng Orogen itself. These clastic sedimentary rocks mainly consist of inputs of juvenile accreted crustal materials and limited recycled old crusts. Their provenance is controlled by the following three end members: a felsic basement, a partially melted mafic, and a mafic end member. From the point view of lithology, these three end members must have mixed in a ratio of 53:41:5 to form the average composition of the clastic sedimentary rocks. The depositional environment began to change from an arc to an orogen during the Permian, and therefore the collision was complete before the Triassic. This interpretation is consistent with the argument that the final collision time was at the end of the Permian or beginning of the Triassic.